Chapter Thirty
"That's' disgusting!"
The revulsion in my daughter Isobel's phone-crackled voice would have been comical if my news hadn't been so serious. Having made the decision to come clean and let the world know about my pregnancy, I had steeled myself to make the first confessional call to the person I believed was most likely to react badly.
I had called several times during that Sunday in July, exactly a week after Pete and I had returned home from our Manchester adventure, without success. It had been late in the evening before I finally reached her; now I wondered whether it had been a good idea after all.
"That's a horrible thing to say," I protested angrily. "It's a natural process."
"I'm sorry Mum," she backed off quickly. "But for a woman in her fifties to be pregnant..."
She couldn't find the words to finish her sentence.
"I'm only just in my fifties," I protested. "And I know it's unusual..." I began.
"You can say that again."
"I know it's unusual," I repeated doggedly. "And it wasn't planned..."
"I should hope not."
"But your Dad and I are determined to see it through. If nature allows."
"How the Hell did it happen?" she asked, still astonished.
"The same way it happened when you thought you were pregnant, I imagine," I replied sarcastically. "Though in my case not on camera."
That was a cruel dig; my daughter's current single status was the direct result of the circulation of a video of her and a previous boyfriend having sex. That relationship had come to an abrupt end when Izzy had publicly cheated on him after a University ball. She had tried to form a relationship with her seducer but he lived hours away and had himself dumped her as soon as the video file had dropped into his inbox.
It was particularly unfair of me to use this against my daughter because another video existed; one of me being fucked by a lover too but only my husband and I knew this.
Anyway, Izzy's hypocrisy deserved some punishment.
To her credit, she immediately backtracked and her tone became more conciliatory.
"Why couldn't you be grumpy and menopausal like everyone else's Mum?" she asked in an exasperated voice.
"I don't know but I'm not. Your Grandma was the same," I told her in as close to a normal voice as I could manage. "Her menopause came very late indeed. I'm sorry to disappoint you; it's supposed to be a good thing."
There was a pause in which Izzy seemed to be rationalising all I had said.
"When are you due?" she asked quietly.
"December."
"Not at Christmas, please!"
"Only if she's late."
"She? You know it's a girl?"
"We're pretty sure but you can never be certain."
There was a long pause. I sipped my coffee.
"Just a minute!" she said, puzzled. "I thought Dad had the snip years ago?"
I had wondered if my daughter knew about this and if so, how long it would take for her to make the connection. She had been very quick off the mark even for her. Fortunately, Pete and I had prepared our response but this was the first time either of us had used it.
"It must have failed," I frowned, my own face beginning to glow pink. "They do sometimes, especially those done a long time ago.
Izzy snorted but seemed to accept this unsubstantiated statement as a simple fact. Our medical friends would not be so easy to convince.
"So, I'm going to be Auntie Isobel by Christmas," she stated dully.
"No Izzy," I said slowly and clearly. "You're going to have a baby sister."
"Oh God," she said in unconscious repetition of her new soubriquet. "Thanks a bunch, Mum!"
There was no adequate response to this so I remained silent. There was a long pause.
"How long have you known about it?" Izzy eventually asked after she had drawn a deep breath.
"Quite a while," I said ambiguously.
In fact, it was in trying to deal with my daughter's own pregnancy scare several months ago that my own condition had been accidentally revealed, but I didn't want her to know this.
"And you didn't think to tell us?" she demanded.
"I thought it would come to an end of its own accord," I told her. "As you said so brutally, I'm in my fifties. If it did end naturally then nobody ever needed to know. You're the first person I've called with the news."
"So why are you telling me now? What's changed?" she asked.
"I'm past the danger zone," I replied honestly. "From now on it's more likely that the baby will be born than I'll lose it."
"I suppose," Izzy replied vaguely. "How does Dad feel about it?"
"He's a bit anxious just like I am."
"I'll bet he is!"